Review by J.C. on December 29, 2025.

In the realm of extreme metal music, the Czech Republic is home to many underground and unknown outstanding bands. For example, in the field of death metal, there are Krabathor, Tortharry, Dysangelium, Brutally Deceased, etc. In the field of black metal, there are Root, Master's Hammer, Cult Of Fire, etc. In the field of doom metal, there is Dissolving Of Prodigy, etc. And in the field of nu-metal, there are Dymytry, The.Switch, and so on. However, when it comes to Czech melodic death metal, most people can't name a few because there are even fewer researchers in this field. And I am one of them.

The Czech Republic has several very important melodic death metal bands, and F.O.B. is one of them. The band's name comes from the acronym Fecal Occult Blood, which is a very grindcore name. The band currently has seven albums, the first three of which are more inclined towards melodic death/thrash metal, while the latter four focus on melodic deathcore. This is due to personnel changes, with Bendis being the guitarist in the early stage and Professor being the main guitarist in the later stage. The early and late stages each have their own strengths in terms of musical style, suitable for different audiences. And the album that we are going to review today is the first one from the later stage.

Professor is a talented guitarist who brought new elements to the band. This album is a reflection of his new additions. The best riff on this album is probably the first riff of 'Feeding On Your Fear'; I seldom hear such an agitating riff. The best solo should be the sectional solo in the latter half of 'Ink Smears'; I rarely hear such beautifully crafted and intricate solos in other bands (perhaps Mental Home has some?). I'm not sure if the lyrics of this song are related to the "Prague Spring". 'Rain Of Thoughts' is a tender track, in which you can hear the keyboard. 'The Ever Searching Seagull Poem' is the song that most obviously exhibits the characteristics of melodic death metal; the melody is very pleasant. I also really like the song 'Forgiveness'. The first part of this song is mainly in the metalcore style, and the latter half begins to have thrash-like melodic death metal riffs. This is precisely the feature of this album, which always naturally transitions to a melodic death metal passage when you think it is a metalcore album.

I really like this album, which perfectly combines melodic death metal, metalcore, and thrash metal, but I'm not satisfied with the recording of this album. It's not thick enough, so I can't give it a full score. The recording of the next album, Reap What You Sow is noticeably thicker, which makes the fierce guitar riffs more infectious. One piece of bad news is that the clean-singing lead vocalist Mara, left the band after the release of the latest album in 2023, so we may not be able to hear the charming clean voice in this band's future works (the latest live performance video posted by the band on TikTok no longer includes a clean voice). In any case, F.O.B. is my favorite Czech melodic death metal band, and perhaps Mortifilia, Vanguard, and Innersphere are the second favorites.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10